Even though more than half of the states currently permit cannabis for medical or adult use, it remains illegal under federal law. This regulatory contradiction creates a significant problem – inconsistent and disjointed cannabis regulations that severely increase the risks to the health and safety of consumers.

As the number of cannabis users continues to rise, the need for accredited standards and a third-party cannabis certification system is essential. An absence of standards in any other industry – pharmaceutical, automobile, tobacco, alcohol is unacceptable. Cannabis is no different.

FOCUS: Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards is an independent, third-party, 501(c)(3), not-for-profit created to develop cannabis specific standards to answer this unmet need in the marketplace in order to protect public health, consumer safety, and safeguard the environment.

Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards

Founded in 2014, FOCUS was created to address the many short comings in quality, consistency and safety that became evident with the explosive growth of the global cannabis industry. FOCUS is an international, non-profit, cannabis standards development and third–party certification organization dedicated to protecting public health, consumer safety, and safeguarding the environment.

FOCUS offers a comprehensive, proactive approach to cannabis quality management through the implementation of industry wide cannabis–specific Good Manufacturing Practice standards and third–party certification managed through a digital compliance system. FOCUS standards provide cannabis–specific, detailed safety, process, design and performance requirements based on existing international quality and safety guidelines in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, food safety, and agriculture. FOCUS standards and third–party certification are a turnkey framework for federal, state and local lawmakers when creating and implementing cannabis regulations.

A standard is an agreed upon way of doing things. It is a pre-determined criteria for a given situation. Standards represent an agreed upon norm to guide our daily lives and help us make informed decisions. They are not good or bad, but provide a basis to measure and assess activities and things.

“The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that standards and conformity assessment impact more than 80% of global commodity trade.”*

FOCUS is honored to have been nominated for 6 CannAwards in 2015. We are humbled and grateful to have taken home the awards for Most Influential Organization in the Industry and Most Innovative Service in the Southwest region.

Testimonials

FOCUS offers the Cannabis community the best set of standards for all cannabis operations. These standards provide a uniform, systematic, and predictable methodology to improve products and services in a cost effective and value-enhanced process. Regulators at the Federal and State level appreciate and will adopt these standards. This is the standards system everyone should rely upon.

Stephen Goldner

President, JD RAC Regulatory Affairs Associates

The cannabis industry is one of the fastest growing markets in the U.S.A. With that growth comes responsibility. Responsibility to protect: public health, consumer safety and the environment, and FOCUS fills that void. I am confident these Standards will benefit business owners, patients, consumers and regulatory agencies.